Europcar and FDJ-Big-Mat in a battle of French pride

interview18.07.2012Stage 16- Pau / Bagnères-de-Luchon

Two French teams are yielded plenty of rewards for their aggression in the Tour de France this July. Both Europcar and FDJ-BigMat have won two stages a piece and now they've also claimed the daily prize in the team classification. In Pau, in the stage before the rest day, it was Pierrick Fedrigo who won the stage and helped his squad to the collective prize. In Luchon-de-Bagnères it was Thomas Voeckler leading the way once again. Pierre Rolland lost some time to Bradley Wiggins but he finished 22nd while team-mate Christophe Kern was also willing to attack for the benefit of his team – he finished 27th and allowed Europcar to finish the stage with an advantage of almost a minute on RadioShack-Nissan.The US-registered squad might have withdrawn Fränk Schleck from the race before stage 16 but it still leads the overall team classification and doesn't look like being challenged the nearest rival is the only other outfit to have worn yellow helmets in the 2012 Tour, Sky Procycling.